Reading the House of Night series
by Nightmare7795
Summary: Sorry for the horrible title, might change if I think of a better one. Please read It's my first HON fanfic! T for language.
1. Chapter 1

My first HON fanfic, hope you enjoy!

I'm going to write most of this in Steive Rae's POV cause she's my favorite character and she's the character I think I identify best with.

Oh yeah, here is a list of all the characters that will be reading, though if you want anyone else to read with them just PM and I'll try to add them in.

Zoey, Stevie Rae, Stark, Aphrodite, Darius, the gang, Heath, Sgiach and Seoras. But not Eric, god no I hate him, I am _so _not adding him to this story unless it's to be insulted by someone, so please don't ask me to add him you'll only be disappointed.

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><p>DC: I own nothing, so sad.<p>

*Stevie Rae POV*

Poor Z, Stevie Rae thought as the both of them walked toward the dining hall for lunch. It was Zoey's first parent visition night and Zoey was nervous and so was Stevie Rae.

What if no one came to visit Z? It would break Stevie Rae's poor heart if no one came to visit her best friend, just as they were about to enter the dining hall and Stevie Rae was about to ask Z if she felt ok when I felt something tugging on me. All of a sudden the world was spinning to fast to see then it just stopped, me and Z both stumbled for a sec before we fell on our butts.

I looked up to see me and Z in some big fancy room done up in all these nice dark colors: black, purple, and silver. There was a big wood table in the middle of the room with comfy chairs around it.

Zoey stood up and looked around, obviously trying to figure out where we were when we heard several loud _Thumps _behind us we turned around and saw a crowd of people.

There was Damien, Erin, Shaunnee, Zoey's old human boyfriend Heath, Aphrodite-here Stevie Rae let out a little groan when she recongized the beautiful blond fledgling-A HUGE vampyre that looked like a walking mountian to Stevie Rae, a fledgling boy neither Stevie Rae or Zoey recongized-but Zoey thought he was pretty cute- a human boy that Damien couldn't stop looking at. A beautiful vampyre with pure white hair except for the one red streak running through it and finally a very scary looking warrior guy standing close to her.

The woman with the white and red hair looked around and at everyone, after a minute she asked us "Are you all ok?" we all nodded too confused to speak, when the woman was about to speak again there was another _thump! _it came from the table. She walked over to the table and picked up the package that fell from nowhere.

"There is a note." She told us.

Aphrodite looked impatient "Well? What does it say?" she asked in her usual bitchty tone.

The woman glanced at her for a second then went back to the note. "It is from Nyx, she has brought us all here to read books abo-" She was interuppeted by the twins and Aphrodite "WHAT?" The woman glared at them "If you let me finish. The books are about the future, Zoey Redbird's future to be exact."

"Cool!"

Damien looked around the room "Well seeing how many books ther are I guess we'll be stuck here awhile, so I think we should all introduce ourselves. I'll go first Hello everyone My name is Damien Maslin." He looked to his left

"Shaunnee Cole,"

"Erin Bates."

"Stevie Rae Johnson, it's nice to meet y'all."

"Zoey Redbird."

"Aphrodite Lafront, I really don't want to be stuck with all of you," she glanced at Darius standing next to her "Well except you handsome."

"Darius, a son of Erebus warrior."

"Stark,"

"I'm Jack and I don't really get why I'm here since I'm human."

"Heath and I'm like Jack here, human. Oh and I'm Zoey's boyfriend," "NO Heath you are NOT!"

"Sgiach, queen of Skye Isle."

"Seoras."

The woman, now idenifed as Sgiach sighed and sat down at what looked like the head of the table and picked up the first book "Well I guess we should start reading. I'll start the first book is called **Untamed,"**

**"Chapter one,**

**The caw! Caw! Cawing! of one stupid crow kept me up all night. (Well, more accurately, all day – 'cause you know, I'm a vampire fledging and we have that whole issue of day and night being turned around.) Anyway, I got zero sleep last night/day. But my crappy nonsleep is currently the easiest thing to deal with since life really sucks when your friends are pissed at you. I should know. I'm Zoey Redbird,**

Everyone turned and stared at Zoey while she groaned and put her head between her hands. Why does it always have to be her?

"Why me? And why are you all pissed at me?" she asked looking very comfortable.

"I'm sure they will tell us in the book." Damien said quietly, but everybody still heard him.

**-currently the undisputed Queen of Making My Friends Pissed Land.**

Aphrodite sighed and muttered something that sounded like "I know how you feel."

**Persephone, the big sorrel mare who I could consider mine for as long as I lived at the House of Night, craned her head around and nuzzled my cheek. I kissed her soft muzzle and went back to brushing her sleek neck. Grooming Persephone always helped me  
>think and made me feel better. And I definitely needed help with both of those things.<strong>

"**Okay, so, I've managed to avoid the Big Confrontation for two days, but that can't continue," I told the mare. "Yes, I know they're in the cafeteria right now, eating dinner while they hang out together being all buddy-buddy and totally leaving me out."**

"Okay… that sounds really unlike us" Shaunee started.

"So you must have done something very bad." Erin finished.

Stevie Rae frowned "What happend?"

**Persephone snorted and went back to munching hay. **

"**Yeah, I think they're being jerks, too. Sure, I did lie to them, but it was mostly by omission. And, yeah, I kept some stuff from them. Mostly for their own good." I sighed. Well, the stuff about Stevie Rae being undead was for their own good. The stuff about  
>me having a thing with Loren Blake—Vampyre Poet Laureate and professor at the House of Night—well, that was more for my own good<strong>

"I'm being undead? What does that even mean?" Stevie Rae asked us but she already knew none of her friends could answer that.

"And what's that stuff about Loren Blake?" For once, Aphrodite sounded normal and not bitchy.

"Zo?" Heath asked quietly sounding very hurt.

"I don't know what's going on in the book Heath so I don't know what it's talking about me and Professer Blake, I mean heck I've never spoken to Professer Blake before."

Stark and Jack were really quiet and didn't really know what to say.

Sgiach started to read again

"**But still." Persephone flicked an ear back to listen to me. "They're being really judgmental."**

**Persephone snorted again. I sighed again. Crap. I couldn't avoid them any longer.**

**After giving the sweet mare one last pat, I walked slowly out of her stall to the tack room and put up the array of currycombs and mane/tail brushes I'd been using on her for the past hour. I breathed deeply of the leather and horse smell, letting the soothing mixture ease my nerves. Catching my reflection in the smooth glass window of the tack room, I automatically ran my fingers through my dark hair, trying to make it look not so bedheady. I'd been Marked as a fledgling vampyre and moved to the House of Night for just over two months, but already my hair was noticeably thicker and longer. And supergood hair was only one of the many changes taking place with me. Some of them were invisible—like the fact that I had an affinity for all five of the elements. Some  
>of them were very much visible—like the unique tattoos that framed my face in intricate, exotic swirls and then, unlike any other fledgling or adult vampyre, the sapphire design spread down my neck and shoulders, along my spine, and most recently, had moved around my waist, a little fact no one but my cat, Nala, our goddess Nyx, and I knew.<strong>

"Wow, you have a lot of tattoos." Stark said with a cocky smile. Zoey didn't say anything. At the moment, she only had the one that framed her face and spread down on her neck and shoulders.

**Like who could I show?**

"**Well, yesterday you had not one, but three boyfriends,"**

"Three Boyfriends?" Zoey and Stevie Rae said shocked

**I told the me with the dark eyes and cynical half smile that was reflected in the glass. "But you fixed that, didn't you? Today not only do you have zero boyfriends, but no one will ever trust you again for at least, I dunno, a gazillion years or so." Well, except Aphrodite, who totally freaked and took off two days ago because she might have suddenly been turned back into a human, and Stevie Rae, who was chasing said freaked re-humaned Aphrodite because she might have caused the fledgling-to-human issue when I cast a circle and turned her from creepy undead dead kid to odd-red-tattooed-vampyre-but-herself-again kid.**

"Me? Human again?" Aphrodite sounded disgusted

"Red-tattooed-vampire? Does that mean I made the change? And agian what does it mean unded?" Stevie Rae looked worried.

"**Either way," I told myself aloud, "you have managed to mess up just about everyone who has touched your life. Well done, you!"**

**My lip had actually started to quiver and I felt the sting of tears in my eyes. No. Bawling my eyes red wouldn't do any good. I mean, seriously, if it did, then my friends and I would have kissed (well, not literally) and made up days ago. I was just going to have to face them and start trying to make things right.**

**The late December night was cool and a little misty. The gaslights lining the sidewalk that stretched from the stable and field house area of the school to the main building flickered with little haloes of yellow light, looking beautiful and old-worldly. Actually, the whole campus of the House of Night was gorgeous, and always made me think of something that belonged in an Arthurian legend more than in the twenty-first century. I love it here, I reminded myself. It's home.**

Stevie Rae and the others at the Tusla house of night smiled, it felt like home to them too.

**It's where I belong. I'll make it right with my friends, and everything will be okay then.**

**I was chewing my lip and worrying about just exactly how I was going to make it right with my friends when my mental stressing was interrupted by a weird flapping noise that filled the air around me. Something about the sound sent a chill down my spine. I looked up. There was nothing above me but darkness and sky and the winter-bare limbs of the huge oaks that lined the sidewalk. I shivered, having a walking-over-my-grave moment as the night went from soft and misty to dark and malevolent.**

**Hang on—dark and malevolent? Well, that's just silly! What I had heard was probably nothing more sinister than the wind rustling through the trees. Jeesh, I was losing it.**

**Shaking my head at myself, I kept walking but had taken only a couple of steps when it happened again. The weird flapping above me actually caused the air, which seemed ten degrees colder, to flutter wildly against my skin.**

"That must be really scary." Damien said and he shivered.

Sgiach frowned, that didn't sound good. Seoras shifted a bit closer to his queen, hoping to comfort her.

**I automatically flailed a hand up, imagining bats and spiders and all sorts of creepy things.**

**My fingers passed through nothingness, but it was frigid nothingness, and an icy pain sliced through my hand. Completely freaked out, I yelped and hugged my hand to my chest. For a moment I didn't know what to do, and my body was numb with fear. The flapping was getting louder and the cold more intense when I finally managed to move. Ducking my head, I did the only thing I could think to do. I ran for the nearest door to the school.**

"Isn't there anyone else outside besides you?" Stark asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I mentioned that it was during lunchtime, so everybody was probably eating." Zoey's words sounded logical and he nodded.

**After slipping inside, I slammed the thick wooden door behind me and, panting for breath, turned to peer through the little arched window in the center of it. The night shifted and swam before my eyes, like black paint poured down a dark page. Still,  
>the terrible feeling of icy fear lingered within me. What was going on? Almost without realizing what I was doing, I whispered, "Fire, come to me. I need your warmth."<strong>

Damien sighed, relief "Good, fire will be able to help you."**  
><strong>

**Instantly the element responded, filling the air around me with the soothing heat of a hearth fire. Still staring out the little window, I pressed my palms against the rough wood of the door. "Out there," I murmured. "Send your heat out there, too." With a whoosh of warmth, the element moved from me, through the door, and poured into the night. There was a hissing sound, like steam rising from dry ice. The mist roiled, thick and soupy, giving me a sense of dizzy vertigo that made me a little nauseated, and the strange darkness began to evaporate. Then the heat completely beat away the chill, and as suddenly as it had begun, the night was once again quiet and familiar.**

**What had just happened?**

**My stinging hand drew my attention from the window. I looked down. Across the back of my hand there were red welts, as though something with claws, or talons, had scraped across my flesh. I rubbed at the angry-looking marks, which stung like a curling iron burn.**

"Eew, that sounds nasty-" Shaunnee started

"-and very painful," and Erin finished

**Then the feeling hit me strong, hard, overwhelming—and I knew with my Goddess-given sixth sense that I shouldn't be here by myself. The coldness that had tainted the night—the ghostly something that had chased me inside and welted my hand—filled me with a terrible foreboding and for the first time in a long time, I was truly and utterly afraid. Not for my friends. Not for my grandma or my human ex-boyfriend, or even for my estranged mom.**

**I was afraid for myself. I didn't just want the company of my friends; I needed them.**

**Still rubbing my hand, I made my legs move and knew beyond any doubt that I would rather face the hurt and disappointment of my friends than whatever dark thing might be waiting for me in the concealing night.**

"I'm pretty sure we will forgive you in the book." Damien whispered. The twins nodded and Zoey flashed them a smile. They would definitely learn something from this book.

Zoey knew one thing: She never wanted to lose her friends.

Stevie Rae sighed, she really wanted to know what happened to her.

**I hovered for a second just outside the open doors to the busy "dining hall" (a.k.a. school cafeteria) watching the other kids talk easily and happily together, and I was almost overwhelmed with the sudden wish that I could be just another fledging—that I didn't have any extraordinary abilities or the responsibilities that went along with those abilities. For a second I wanted to be normal so bad that it was hard for me to breathe.**

Zoey nodded, agreeing with her book self.**  
><strong>

**Then I felt the soft brush of wind against my skin that seemed warmed by the heat of an invisible flame. I caught a whiff of the ocean, even though there is definitely no ocean near Tulsa, Oklahoma. I heard birdsong and smelled new-cut grass. And my spirit  
>quivered with silent joy within me as it acknowledged my powerful Goddess-given gifts of an affinity for each of the five elements: air, fire, water, earth, and spirit.<strong>

**I wasn't normal. I wasn't like anyone else, fledgling or vampyre, and it was wrong of me to wish otherwise. And part of my not-normal-ness was telling me that I had to go in there and try to make peace with my friends. I straightened my spine and looked around the room with eyes that were clear of self-pity, and easily found my special group sitting at our booth.**

"Here we go," Zoey muttered so low that nobody could hear it. Not even Stevie Rae, who was sitting next to her.

**I drew a deep breath and then made my way quickly across the cafeteria, giving a little nod or small smile to the kids who said hi to me. I noticed that everyone seemed to be reacting to me with their usual mix of respect and awe, which meant that my friends hadn't been talking crap about me to the masses. It also meant that Neferet hadn't launched an all-out, open attack against me. Yet.**

"Neferet? What does she have to do with this?" Zoey asked.

"I knew it." Aphrodite almost yelled it. Everyone turned to look at her with confusion.

"Neferet is evil. She's just really bad news."

Zoey shook her head, Neferet was like a mother to her she couldn't be evil.

**I grabbed a quick salad and a brown pop. **

Stevie Rae rolled her eyes "You and your brown pop, Z."

Zoey stuck her tounge out in a very childish manner "_You _and your Lucky Charms."**  
><strong>

**Then, holding on to my tray with such abnormal tightness that it was turning my fingers white, I marched straight to our booth and took my usual seat beside Damien.**

**When I sat down, no one looked at me, but their easy chatter instantly died, which is something I totally hate. I mean, what's more awful than walking up to a group of your supposed-to-be friends and having them all shut up so that you knew for sure they were all talking about you? Ugh.**

"**Hi," I said instead of running away or bursting into tears like I wanted to.**

**No one said anything.**

Damien, Erin and Shaunnee frowned, they must be really pissed at Z.**  
><strong>

"**So, what's up?" I directed the question at Damien, knowing that my gay friend was naturally the weakest link in the don't-talk-to-Zoey chain.**

**Sadly, it was the Twins who answered me and not gay, and therefore more sensitive and polite, Damien.**

"**Not shit, right, Twin?" said Shaunee.**

"**That's right, Twin, not shit. 'Cause we can't be trusted to know shit," Erin said. "Twin, did you know we're totally untrustworthy?"**

"**Not until recently I didn't, Twin. You?" Shaunee said.**

"**Didn't know till recently either," Erin finished.**

"Shit, we really sound…."

"…mean." Shaunee said when Erin didn't end her sentence. They sounded guilty, but they didn't even do something. Not in reality, anyway.

**Okay, the Twins aren't really twins. Shaunee Cole is a caramel-colored Jamaican-American who grew up on the East Coast. Erin Bates is a gorgeous blonde who was born in Tulsa. The two met after being Marked and moving to the House of Night on the  
>same day. They clicked instantly—it's like genetics and geography never existed. They literally finish each other's sentences. And at that moment they were glaring at me with twin looks of angry suspicion.<strong>

**God, they made me tired.**

Aphrodite and Stark snickered while the twins glared at Zoey.

"Sorry guys." She said with a shrug.

**They also made me mad. Yes, I'd kept secrets from them. Yes, I'd lied to them. But I'd had to. Well, mostly I'd had to. And their twin holier-than-thou crap was getting on my last nerve.**

"**Thank you for that lovely commentary. And now I'll try asking someone who doesn't have to answer in a stereo version of hateful Gossip Girl Blair." I turned my attention away from them and looked directly at Damien, even though I could hear the Twins sucking air and getting ready to say something I was hoping they would one day regret. "So, I guess what I really wanted to ask when I said 'what's up' is if you've noticed any scary, ghostlike, flappy weirdness outside lately. Have you?"**

**Damien's a tall, really cute guy with excellent bone structure whose brown eyes were usually warm and expressive but were, at this moment, wary and more than a little cold. "A flappy ghost thing?" he said. "Sorry, I have no clue what you're talking about."**

Damien looked at Zoey with a worried gleam in his eyes, but she just asked Sgiach to continue reading.

**My heart squeezed at the strangerlike tone of his voice, but I told myself that at least he'd answered my question. "On the way here from the stables, something kinda attacked me. I couldn't really see anything, but it was cold and it put a big welt on my hand." I lifted my hand to show him—and there was no welt there anymore.**

"Darn. You guys won't believe me." Zoey muttered.

**Great.**

"Sarcasm- alert." Stark chuckled, but he was the only one who found it funny.

**Shaunee and Erin snorted together. Damien just looked really, really sad. I was opening my mouth to explain that there had been a welt there just a few minutes ago, when Jack rushed up.**

Jack blinked, he becomes a fledgling? Well I guess that explains why I'm here, he thought.

"**Oh, hi! I'm so sorry I'm late but when I put on my shirt I found a ginormic stain right on the front of it. Can you believe that?" Jack said as he hurried up with his tray of food and sat at his place beside Damien.**

"**A stain? It's not on that lovely blue long-sleeved Armani I got you for Christmas, is it?" Damien said, scooting over to make room for his boyfriend.**

Damien and Jack both blushed.

"**Ohmigod, no! I'd never spill anything on that one. I just love it and—" His words came to a staggering halt when his eyes flitted from Damien to me. He gulped. "Oh, uh. Hi, Zoey."**

"**Hi, Jack," I said, smiling at him. Jack and Damien are together. Hello. They're gay. My friends and I, along with anyone who's not narrow-minded and utterly judgmental, are cool with that.**

Zoey and the gang looked over at Aphrodite who glared at them.

"I don't have a problem with the gay love-birds over there, so stop glaring."**  
><strong>

"**I didn't expect to see you," Jack babbled. "I thought you were still . . . uh . . . well . . ." He trailed off, looking uncomfortable and blushing a pretty pink.**

"**You thought I was still hiding in my room?" I supplied for him.**

**He nodded.**

"Sorry Zoey,"

"It's ok Jack." Zoey smiled at Jack hoping to help him relax in these group of Vampyres and fledglings.**  
><strong>

"**No." I said firmly, "I'm done doing that."**

"**Well, la-te-da," Erin began, but before Shaunee could do her usual chime-in act, a blatantly sexy laugh coming from the door behind us made everyone turn and gawk.**

"That's probably me." Aphrodite said self-assured and she looked a lot more interested now she would be in the story.

**Aphrodite twitched into the room, laughing while she batted her eyes at Darius, one of the youngest and hottest of the Sons of Erebus Warriors who protected the House of Night, and did an excellent hair flip. The girl always had been good at multitasking,  
>but I was totally shocked at how nonchalant and utterly cool and collected she looked. Only two days ago she'd been almost dead and then utterly freaked because the sapphire-colored outline of a crescent moon—which appeared on all fledglings' foreheads,<br>Marking them as having begun the Change that would either end in becoming a vampyre or in becoming dead—had disappeared from her face.**

**Which meant she had somehow turned back into a human.**

"What? I turn into a _human_?" She snapped and they all shared a look. Sounds like karma.

"Does anyone want to read?" Sgiach asked the group.

"I will. I want to know what the damn book is talking about, me being human. Honestly" Aphrodite said, as she took the book.

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><p>Sorry everyone for not having this up when I promised, I had the curse of writer's block, and it was hard for me to write Aphrodite's parts since she's really mean and It is almost impossible for me to be bitchy like Aphrodite. Sorry! But anyway here is the first chapter finally! Sorry for any mistakes I might have made and Please reveiw it makes me happy :)<strong><br>**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 everybody!

DC: I sadly do not own the house of night or any of it's characters. *sigh* now exuse me I have to go over to my little crying corner, I've been neglecting it lately.**  
><strong>

**Okay, I thought she'd turned back into a human, but even from where I was sitting I could see that Aphrodite's Mark had returned.**

"If Aphrodite transformed back into a human, then how is her mark back? Though, it makes one wonder how did she lose it in the first place?" Everyone heard Damien mumble from his seat.

**Her cold blue eyes swept the cafeteria as she gave the watching kids a stuck-up sneer before turning her attention back to Darius and letting her hand linger on the big warrior's chest.**

Aphrodite smirked at the twins, her smirk clearly said "Jealous?"

The twins both glared, no fair, how did that skank get the hot son of Erebus warrior? Wait she's a skank that's how.(Yeah, like I said I'm not good with this kind od stuff so please bear with me, I know it sucks. Sorry)

"**It was ever so sweet of you to walk me to the dining hall. You're right. It shouldn't have taken two days to cut my vacation short. With all the craziness going on around here, it's best to stay on campus where we can be protected. And since you say you'll be stationed at the door of our dorm, that is definitely the most safe and attractive place to be."**

**She practically purred at him. Jeesh, she was a stank. Had I not been so surprised to see her, I would have made appropriate gagging noises. Loud, obvious ones. **

Zoey made the loud, obvious gagging noises her book self had wanted to make, along with the twins, of course.**  
><strong>

**"And I must return to my posting there. Good night, my lady," Darius said. He gave her a very sharp bow, which made him look like one of those romantic, handsome knights, minus the horse and the shining armor, from back in the day.**

If anyone- besides Darius, obvoiusly- had been looking at Aphrodite then, they would have noticed her face lacking it's distinct bitchiness and maybe, just maybe a small smile on her lips.

"**It's a pleasure to serve you." He smiled at Aphrodite one more time before turning neatly on his heel and leaving the cafeteria. "And I'll just bet it would be a pleasure to service you."Aphrodite said in her nastiest voice as soon as he was out of earshot.**

The twins made gagging noises again, and Aphrodite glared.

**Then she turned around to face the gawking, silent room. She lifted one perfectly waxed brow and gave everyone her patented Aphrodite sneer. "What? You look like you've never seen gorgeous before. Hell, I was only gone a couple of days. Your short-term memory should be better than that. Remember me? I'm the gorgeous bitch you all love to hate."**

Stevie Rae sighed "Oh, can't you just be nice for once, Aphrodite?" she asked

"Nope."

**When no one said anything, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever." She twitched to the salad bar and began to fill her plate as the noise dam finally broke and all the kids made rude sounds and turned back to their food dismissively. To the uninformed, I'm sure Aphrodite looked like her usual haughty self. But I could see how nervous and tense she actually was.**

"Wow, talk about observent much," Stark muttered and Zoey smacked his arm lightly. Stark rubbed his arm slightly and grinned at Zoey in his usual cocky way, she just rolled her eyes in return

**Hell, I understood exactly how she felt – I'd just walked through the gauntlet myself. Actually, I was currently struck in the middle of it along with her. "I thought she'd become human again." Damien said under breath to all of us. "But her Mark's back."**

"**Nyx's ways are mysterious," I said, trying to sound wise and High Priestess in Training-ish.**

"Is that a word, Zo?" Heath asked.

"**I'm thinking Nyx's ways are another M-word, Twin." Erin said. "Can you guess it?"**

"**Majorly messed up?" Shaunee said.**

"**Exactly," Erin said.**

"That's three words." Damien said.**  
><strong>

"**That's three words," Damien said.**

"Wow, repeating your self much?" Shaunnee said.**  
><strong>

"**Oh, don't be such a schoolteacher," Shaunee told him. "Plus the point is Aphrodite is a hag, and we were kinda hoping Nyx dumped her when that Mark of hers disappeared.**

"**More than kinda hoping, Twin." Erin said. Everyone stared at Aphrodite. I tried to force salad down my throat. See, here's the deal: Aphrodite used to be the most popular, powerful, bitchy fledging at the House of Nights. Since she'd crossed the High Priestess, Neferet, and been totally ostracized, she had been reduced to simply the most bitchy fledging at the House of Nights. Of course, weirdly ( and typically enough for me), she and I had kinda, sorta, accidently become friends – or at the very least, allies.**

Aphrodite raised an eyebrow at that "Not if my life depends on it,"

"No way," Zoey muttered

**Not that we wanted the masses to know that. Nevertheless, I'd been worried about her when she disappeared, even though Stevie Rae had chased after her.**

**I hadn't heard from either of them in two days. Naturally, my other friends – namely Damien, Jack, and the Twins – hated her guts.**

Jack smiled, Zoey considered him her friend!

The twins and Damien nodded, they did hate Aphrodite.

**So to say that they were shocked and not very pleased when Aphrodite walked directly to our booth and sat down beside me was an understatement almost as big as that knight in the **_**Indiana Jones**_** movie saying 'He chose poorly' when the bad guy picked the wrong goblet to drink out of and his body disintegrated. **

"I love that movie!" Jack squealed in a very gay-way.

Heath nodded "It's great, remember when we saw it Zo?"

"**Staring isn't polite, even when it's at someone as stunningly beautiful as moi,' Aphrodite said before taking a bite of her salad. **

"**What the hell are you doing, Aphrodite?" Erin asked. Aphrodite swallowed and then blinked with fake innocence at Erin. "Eating, moron," she said sweetly.**

"**This is a no-ho zone," Shaunee said, finally recovering her ability to speak. "Yeah, it's posted back here," Erin said, pointing at a pretend sign on the back of their bench.**

"**I hate to repeat a sentiment I've said before, but in this case I'll make an exception. So I again say: Die Dorkamese Twins."**

"Wonder when I ever said that."

"**That's it,' Erin said barely able to keep her voice down. "Twin and I are gonna smack that damn Mark right off your face."**

"**Yeah, maybe it'll stay off this time," Shaunee said.**

"**Stop it," I said. When the Twins turned slant-eyed looks of pissed-off-ness on me, I felt my stomach clench. Did they really hate me so much as they looked like they did?**

Zoey felt arms wrapping around her, it was the twins.

"Sorry Z, we could never hate you-

-so wipe that damn pained expression off your face and smile." the twins said in their usual twin talk.

Zoey smiled and hugged the twins back.

**It made my heart hurt to think about it, but I lifted my chin and stared right back at them. If I completed the Change to vampyre, I would someday be their High Priestess, and that meant they had damn well better listen to me. "We've already been through this. Aphrodite is part of the Dark Daughters now. She's also part of our circle, being as she has an affinity for the element earth.**

Everyone was silent when they tried to process what they just heard.

Sgiach looked around the group of fledglings "I take it that she doesn't have a affinity for the earth yet."

Stevie Rae shook her head "No, the only sort of power that we know Aphrodite has right now is her ability to see future tradgeys."

**I hesitated, wondering if she still had that affinity, or had she lost it when she'd gone from fledging to human and then, apparently, back to fledging again, but that was just too confusing, so I hurried on. "You guys know you agreed to accept her in each position, **_**without**_** name-calling and hateful remarks."**

**The Twins didn't say anything, but Damien's voice, sounding uncharacteristically flat and emotionless, came from the other side of me. "We agreed to that, but we didn't agree to be friends with her."**

"**I didn't say I wanted to be your friend," Aphrodite said.**

"**Ditto, bitch!" the Twins said together. "Whatever," Aphrodite said, moving like she was going to pick up her tray and leave.**

**I'd opened my mouth to tell Aphrodite to sit down and the Twins to shut up when a bizarre noise echoed down the hall and through the open doors to the cafeteria. "What the-?" I began, but didn't get the whole question out before at least a dozen cats streaked into the cafeteria, hissing and spitting like crazy.**

"What the hell?" Zoey said.

"Does that usually happen?" Jack asked.

**Okay, at the House of Nights, cats are everywhere. Literally. They follow us around, sleep with, and in my cat Nala's case, often complain at, the fledging of their choice. In Vamp Soc class, one of the first cool things we learned was that cats had long been familiars of vampyres. This meant that we were all majorly used to having cats everywhere. But I had never seen them act so absolutely insane. The Twins's huge gray tomcat, Beelzebub, jumped right up between them. He was puffed up to twice his already ginormously large size, and he stared back through the open door to the dining hall with amber eyes slit in anger.**

"Ok, that's weird," Shaunee said.

"He never does anything like that," Erin added.

"**Beelzebub, baby, what's wrong?" Erin tried to soothe him. Nala leaped up on my lap. She put her little white-tipped paws on my shoulder and gave a scary, psycho-cat growl as she, too, stared at the door and the chaotic noise still coming from the hall. "Hey," Jack said. "I know what that sound is."**

**And it hit me at the same time. "It's a dog barking," I said.**

"A dog? Since when are they allowed here?" Damien asked.

"Since now, Duchess is mine." Stark said and he grinned. He really loved her, she was the best dog in the world.

**Then something that resembled a large yellow bear lire closely than a dog burst into the cafeteria. The bear-dog was followed by a kid who was followed by several uncharacteristically frazzled- looking professors, including our fencing master, Dragon Lankford, our equestrian instructor, Lenobia, as well as several of the Sons of Erebus Warriors.**

All the kids laughed, it sounded hilarous.

"**Got ya!" the kid yelled once he caught up with the dog and came to a skidding halt not far from us while he swooped down, snagged the barking beast's collar (which I noted was pink leather with silver metallic spikes all around it), and neatly clipped a leash to it. The instant his leash was reattached, the bear stopped barking, plotted its round butt down on the floor, and stared, panting, up at the kid. "Yeah, great. Now you want to act right," I heard him mutter to the obviously grinning canine.**

Stark rolled his eyes, Duchess was always like that.

**Even though the barking had stopped, the cats in the cafeteria had definitely not stopped freaking. There was so much hissing around us, it sounded like air escaping from a punctured inner tube.**

"**You see, James, this was what I was trying to explain to you earlier," Dragon Lankford said as he stared, frowning, down at the dog.**

"It's not James anymore, just Stark." Stark muttered

"**The animal just won't work at this House of Night."**

"**It's Stark, not James," the kid said. "And like I was trying to explain to you earlier – the dog has to stay with me. It's just the way it is. If you want me – you get her, too."**

**I decided that the new dog kid had an unusual way about him.**

"Dog kid? Thanks Z, cool nickname!" Stark said with fake enthusaim.

Zoey rolled her eyes.

**It wasn't like he was being openly rude or disrespectful to Dragon, but he also wasn't speaking to him with the respect, and sometimes outright fear, with which the vast majority of newly Marked fledglings spoke to vampyres. I checked out the front of his vintage Pink Floyd T-shirt. No class insignia there, so I didn't have a clue what year he was and how long he'd been Marked. "Stark," Lenobia was saying, obviously trying to reason with the kid. **

"**it's just not possible to integrate a dog into this campus. You can see how much he's upsetting the cats."**

"**They'll get used to him. They did at the Chicago House of Night. She's usually pretty good about not chasing them around, but that gray cat really did ask for it with that whole hissing and scratching things."**

"**Uh-oh," Damien whispered.**

Both the twins glared at Stark and were about to start yelling but Aphrodite read again before they could say anything.

**I didn't need to look – I could sense the Twins puffing up like blowfish.**

"**My goodness, what is all this noise about?" Neferet swept into the room, looking beautiful and powerful and completely in control. I watched the new kid's eyes widen as he took in her gorgeousness. It was soooo annoying that everybody automatically fell stupid at their first glimpse of our High Priestess and my nemesis, Neferet. **

Aphordite narrowed her eyes.

Zoey was confused again. Why did the book say Neferet was her nemesis? Neferet was like a mother to her, a _real _mother not like Linda Heffer was.

"**Neferet, I apologize for the disruption." Dragon placed his fist over his heart and bowed respectfully to his High Priestess. "This is my new fledging. He arrived only moments ago."**

"**That explains how the fledgling got here. It does not explain how **_**that**_** got here." Neferet pointed at the panting dog.**

"**She's with me," the kid said. When Neferet turned her moss-colored eyes on him, he mimicked Dragon's salute and bow. When he straightened, I was utterly shocked to see him give Neferet a lopsided grin that looked more than a little cocky.**

"**She's my version of a cat."**

"**Really?" Neferet lifted one slime auburn brow. "Yet she looks oddly like a bear."**

Stark sighed "Well I can't blame her, even _I _think Duch looks kinda like a bear."

**Ha! So it wasn't just me being overly descriptive. **

"**Well, Priestess, she's a Lab, but you're not the first person who's said she looks bearlike. Her paws are definitely big enough to be a bear's. Check it out." Disbelieving, I watched as the kid turned his back on Neferet and told the dog, "Gimme five, Duch." The dog obediently lifted a decidedly massive paw and slapped Stark's hand with it.**

Jack and Stevie Rae awwed. "That sounds so cute!"

**Okay, I had to admit it. It was a cute trick.**

**He returned his attention to Neferet. "But dog or bear, she and I have been together since I was Marked four years ago, so that makes her cat enough for me.**"

"**A Labrador retriever?" Neferet made a show of walking around the dog and studying her. "She's awfully large."**

"**Well, yeah, Duch has always been a big girl, Priestess."**

"**Duch? That's her name?"**

**The kid nodded and grinned, and even though he was a sixth-former, I was again surprised at how easily he spoke to an adult vamp, especially one who was a powerful High Priestess.**

"**It's short for Duchess."**

**Neferet looked from the dog to the kid, and her eyes narrowed. "What is your name, child?"**

"**Stark," he said.**

**I wondered if anyone else saw her jaw clench.**

"**James Stark?" Neferet said.**

"**A few moments I dropped my first name. It's just Stark." He said.**

**She ignored him and turned to Dragon. "He's the transfer we've been expecting from the Chicago House of Night?"**

"**Yes, Priestess," Dragon said.**

**When Neferet looked back at Stark, I saw her lips tilt up in a calculating smile.**

"**I've heard quite a bit about you, Stark. You and I shall have to have a long talk very soon." Still studying the fledgling, Neferet spoke to Dragon. "Be sure that Stark has twenty-four-hour access to any and all archery equipment he might like to use.**

Stark's body became rigid, Zoey noticed so she held his hand hoping he'd relax. He did, a little bit.

**I saw Stark's body do a little jerk. Obviously Neferet saw it, too, because her smile widened and she said, "Of course, news of your talent preceded you here, Stark. You mustn't get out of practice just because you've changed schools.**

_Bitch_, he thought.

**For the first time, Stark looked uneasy. Actually, he looked more than uneasy. At the mention of archery, Stark's expression had transformed from cute and a little sarcastic to cold and almost mean.**

"**I told them when they transferred me, I'd stopped competing." Stark's voice was flat, and his words barely carried the short distance to our table. "Changing schools won't change that."**

"**Competing? You mean that banal archery competition between the different Houses of Night?" Neferet's laughter made my skin crawl. "It matters little to me if you compete or not. Remember, I am Nyx's mouthpiece here, and I say what is important is that you don't waste your Goddess-given talent. You never know when Nyx might call on you – and it won't be for some silly contest."**

**My stomach flipped over. I knew Neferet was talking about the war against the humans.**

"War against the humans?" Stevie Rae exclaimed.

Aphrodite shrugged "Figures, she's only an evil bitch that wants power."

**But Stark, being completely clueless, just looked relieved at not having to compete again, and his expression shifted back to nonchalance tinged with cockiness.**

"**No problem. I don't mind practicing, Priestess." he said.**

"**Neferet, what is it you wish us to do about the, uh, dog?" Dragon said.**

**Neferet paused just for a moment; then she crouched gracefully in front of the yellow Lab. The dog's big ears pricked forward. She stuck her wet nose up, sniffling, with obvious curiosity at Neferet's offered hand. Across the booth from me, Beelzebub hissed menacingly. Nala growled low in her throat. Neferet's eyes lifted and met mine.**

**I tried to keep my face expressionless, but I don't know how well I succeeded. I hadn't seen Neferet since two days ago when she'd followed me out of the auditorium after she's announced the human-vampyre war she wanted to start in retribution for Loren's murder.**

"WHAT?" the Twins, Steive Rae, Zoey and Damien yelled together.

Murder? At the House of Night, the one place they feel at home?

**Naturally, we'd had words. She'd been Loren's lover. So had I, but that had been inconsequential.**

Zoey groaned "I've never even met the guy and suddenly I hear we're lovers? Great."

**Loren hadn't loved me. Neferet had set up the whole thing between Loren and me, and she knew I knew she had.**

"Who'ed want to do such a thing?" Jack wondered.

**She also knew I knew Nyx didn't approve of the things she's been doing. Basically, she'd seriously hurt my heart, and I hated Neferet almost as much as I feared her.**

_I know how you feel, _Aphrodite thought.

**I hoped none of those things showed on my face as our High Priestess strolled over to our table. With a slight hand gesture, she had Stark and his leashed dog following along behind her. The Twins' cat gave one more hiss before streaking off. I frantically petted Nala, hoping she wouldn't totally lose her mind as the dog got closer. Neferet stropped when she reached our table. Her eyes kipped quickly from me to Aphrodite before they came to a rest on Damien. **

"**I'm glad you're here, Damien. I'd like you to show Stark his room, and help him find his way around campus." **

"**I'd be happy to, Neferet," Damien said quickly, looking all sparkly eyes when Neferet beamed her one-hundred-watt thank-you smile at him.**

"**Dragon will help you with the details," she said. Then her green eyes moved to me. I braced myself. "And Zoey, this is Stark. Stark, this is Zoey Redbird, the leader of our Dark Daughters." **

**He and I nodded at eachother.**

"**Zoey, as you are a High Priestess in Training, I'll leave the issue of Stark's dog with you. I trust that one of the many abilities Nyx has gifted you with will help you acclimate Duchess into our school." Her cold eyes never left mind. They said, **_**Remember that I'm in charge here and you're just a child.**_

"Bitch," Aphrodite muttered.

**I purposefully broke eye contact with her and gave Stark a tight smile. "I'd be happy to help your dog fit in."**

"**Excellent," Neferet cooed. "Oh, and Zoey, Damien, Shaunee, and Erin." She smiled at my friends, and my friends grinned like utter fools right back at her. She completely ignored Aphrodite and Jack.**

Aphrodite shrugged again, she was used to it.

"**I've called a special Council Meeting for tonight at ten thirty." She glanced at her diamond-studded platinum watch. "It's almost ten o'clock right now, so you need to finish up eating because I expect you Prefects to be there, too."**

"**We will!" They trilled like ridiculous baby birds.**

"**Oh, Neferet, that reminds me," I said, raising my voice so that it carried across the room. "Aphrodite will be joining us. Since she's been gifted by Nyx with an earth affinity, we all agree that she should be on the Prefect Council, too."**

"Oh! That will annoy her." Aphrodite said with a grin.

**I held my breath, hoping that my friends would go along with this. Thankfully, except for Nala's growl at Duchess, no one said anything.**

"**How could Aphrodite be a Prefect? She is no longer a member of the Dark Daughters." Neferet's voice had gone cold.**

**I radiated innocence. "Did I forget to tell you? I'm so sorry, Neferet. It must have been because of all the horrible things that have happened recently. Aphrodite has rejoined the Dark Daughters. She swore to me, and to Nyx, to uphold our new code of conduct, and I allowed her back in. I mean, I thought that's what you'd want – to have her come back to our Goddess."**

"**That's right." Aphrodite sounded uncharacteristically subdued. "I've agreed to the new rules. I want to make up for my past mistakes."**

Aphrodite nodded a little, she _did _want to make up for her mistakes she really did.**  
><strong>

**I knew it would make Neferet look mean and spiteful if she publicly rejected Aphrodite after she's made it obvious that she wanted to change. And Neferet was all about appearance.**

**The High Priestess smiled at the room in general, not looking at Aphrodite or me. "How very generous of our Zoey to accept Aphrodite back into the bosom of the Dark Daughters, especially as she'll be held responsible for Aphrodite's conduct. But then our Zoey seems to be comfortable with a great deal of responsibility. " She did look at me then, and the hatred in her gaze made my breath catch in my throat. "Do be careful that you don't strangle under so much self-inflicted pressure, Zoey dear." Then, as if she'd thrown a switch, her face was filled with sweetness and light again, and she beamed at the new kid. "Welcome to the House of Night, Stark."**

"Is she bipolar?" Stark asked.

"No just really good at acting." Aphrodite told him "Now who wants to read?"

"I will." Darius said taking the book and smiling at Aphrodite, Aphrodite grinned back.


	3. Chapter 3

DC: I don't own the Hous of Night, if I did then Jack wouldn't have died.

"**Chapter 3," **Darius read.

"**Well, uh, are you hungry?" I asked Stark after Neferet and the rest of the vamps had glided out of the cafeteria.**

"**Yeah, I guess." he said.**

"**If you hurry, you can eat with us, and then Damien can show you to your room before we have to go to the Council Meeting,' I said.**

"**I think your dog is pretty,' Jack said, leaning around Damien to get a better look at Duchess.**

"Thanks," Stark grinned.

"**I mean, she's big, but she's still pretty. She won't bite, will she?"**

"Not if you don't bite her first." Stark said with a cocky smile.

"**Not if you don't bite her first," Stark said.**

Stark blinked "Woah, repeat."

"**Oh, eew," Jack said. "I'd get dog hair in my mouth and that'd be nasty."**

"**Stark, this is Jack. He's Damien's boyfriend."**

Yet again, Damien and Jack both blushed and looked very embarrassed.

**I decided to get the introductions and the possible **_**Oh, no! He's a fag!**_** Issues out of the way.**

"**Hi," Jack said with a really sweet smile.**

"**Yeah, hi," Stark said. It wasn't a hugely warm hi, but he didn't seem to be giving off any homophobe vibes.**

"**And this is Erin and Shaunee." I pointed to each of them in turn. "They also answer to Twin, which will make sense once you've known them for about two-point-five minutes."**

The Twins grinned and high-fived eachother.

"**Hey, there," Shaunee said, giving him a very obvious **_**look**_**.**

"**Ditto," Erin said, giving him an identical **_**look**_**.**

The twins were giving Stark the same _look _their book selves were**.  
><strong>

"**This is Aphrodite," I said.**

**His slightly sarcastic smile was back. "So, you're the Goddess of Love. I've heard a lot about you."**

**Aphrodite was looking at Stark with a weird intensity that didn't seem particularly flirtatious, **

"Why not? He's hot." Erin said**  
><strong>

**but when he spoke to her, she automatically executed a truly spectacular hair flip and said, "Hi. I like it when I'm recognized."**

Aphrodite frowned, what was up with book-Aphrodite? Maybe she saw him in a vision?

**His smile widened and got even more sarcastic as he gave her a little laugh. "It'd be hard not to recognize you – the name's pretty obvious."**

**I watched as Aphrodite's intense look instantly dissipated and was replaced by her much more familiar public expression of snobby disdain, but before she could verbally begin to slice up the new kid, Damien spoke. "Stark, I'll show you where the trays and stuff are." He stood up and then stopped in front of Duchess, looking more than a little confused.**

"Don't worry, Duchess is a good girl she won't do anything." Stark said.

"**No worries," Stark said. "She'll stay put. As long as no cats do anything stupid. **

**His gaze had shifted to Nala, who was the only cat left close to Duchess. Nala hadn't started growling again, but she was perched on my lap, staring unblinkingly at the dog, and I could feel the tension in her body.**

"**Nala will be good," I said, hoping she would. I really had no control over my cat. Hell, who actually had control over any cat?**(Did you know Nala means Gift?)

"No one," all cat owners in the room said.

"**All right, then." He gave me a quick nod before telling the dog. "Duchess, stay!" Sure, enough, when he followed Damien over to the main line, Duchess stayed.**

"Told you she'd be good." Stark said looking smug.

"**You know, dogs are a lot louder than cats," Jack said, studying Duchess like she was a science experiment.**

"**It's all that panting they do," Erin said.**

"**And they're more flatulent than cats, Twin," Shaunee said.**

"**My mom has those ginormic standard poodles, and they are some gaseous creatures."**

"Ew."**  
><strong>

"**Okay, well, this has really been **_**not**_** fun," Aphrodite said. "I'm out of here."**

"**Don't you want to stay around and make eyes at the new guy?" Shaunee asked in a too-nice voice.**

"**Yeah, and he seemed to like you so much," Erin said sweetly.**

"**I'll leave the new guy to you two, which is only right, being as he likes dogs so much. **

"You bi-"

Darius continued reading before the twins could finish that and start a fight.**  
><strong>

**Zoey, come by my room when you're done with your nerd herd. I want to talk to you about something before the Council Meeting." And with a hair fling and a sneer for the Twins, she left the cafeteria.**

Zoey was confused, why did Aphrodite want to talk to her? And why couldn't she just say it in front of everyone else?

"**She's not actually as bas ad she pretends to be," I told the Twins. They gave me disbelieving looks and I shrugged. "It's just that she pretends to be bad a lot."**

"Wow, you must be very good at pretending," Erin muttered.

"If she's pretending then I'm ugly." Shaunnee

"**Well, we say **_**please, **_**just**_** please**_**, to her crappy attitude," Erin said.**

"**Aphrodite makes us understand why women have drowned their babies," Shaunee said.**

"And I thought _I _was mean." Aphrodite muttered

Stevie Rae frowned at the twins "Be nice."**  
><strong>

"**Just try to give Aphrodite a chance," I said. "She's started letting me in past that hateful crap she puts up. You'll see. She can be nice sometimes."**

**The Twins didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, then they looked at each other, and at the same time they shook their heads and rolled their eyes. I sighed again.**

"**But on to a much more important topic," Erin said.**

"**Yeah, the new hottie," Shaunee said.**

"Oh, good your moving on to more interesting things." Stark said.

"**Check out his butt," Erin said.**

"**I wish he'd sag them jeans a little so I could get a better look,"**

"Sorry, I'm not a saggy jeans person." Stark told the twins.

"**Twin, sagging is seriously lame. It's so clichéd gang-wannabe circa 1990s. Hotties should just say no to it," Erin said.**

"**I'd still like to see his butt, Twin." Shaunee said. Then she glanced over at me and smiled. It was a reserved version of her old, friendly grin, but at least it wasn't the sarcastic wariness she'd been treating me with for the past couple days.**

"**So, what do you think? Is he Christian Bale hot, or just Tobey Maguire hot?"**

"Oh please, Christian Bale has got nothing on me," Stark grinned while evryone rolled their eyes at his cockiness, though Zoey thought it was kinda cute.

**I wanted to burst into happy tears and yell, **_**Yea! You guys are starting to talk to me again!**_** Instead I acted like I had some sense and joined the Twins in checking out the new kid. **

**Okay, so they were right. Stark was cute.**

Stark grinned while Zoey groaned and put her head between her hands and braced herself for the embarrassment.

**He was medium tall, not quarterback tall like my human ex-boyfriend, Heath, or abnormally gorgeous Superman tall like my fledging-turned)vampyre ex-boyfriend ex-boyfriend.**

The twins, Damien and Stevie Rae gasped while Zoey just looked shocked.

"You two broke up!" the twins yelled.

"Only in the book," Zoey stated and she shrugged. But she did wonder why they broke up. Was it that Loran thing the book mentioned or something else?

"And Erik changed into a vampyre," Damien said.

**But he wasn't short, either. Actually, he was about Damien's height. He was kinda on the thin side, but I could see muscles through his old T-shirt, and his arms were definitely yummy.**

"Ohmygod…." Zoey groaned while her pinks turned pink.

"I like this book." Stark said happily

"Yeah well I _don't." _Zoey told him.

Stark just grinned in response.

**He had cute, messy guy hair, that sandy color between blond and brown. His face was okay, too, with a strong chin, straight nose, big brown eyes, and nice lips. SO, dissected into separate parts, Stark was an okay-looking kid.**

"Just okay?" Stark asked, insulted.

**As I watched him, I realized that what took him from **_**meh**_** to **_**hot **_**was his intensity and his confidence. He moved like everything he did was deliberate, but that the deliberateness was tinged with sarcasm. It was like he was a part of the world, and at the same time he was flipping it off.**

"Werid." Stark muttered, she knew that much about him just from _observing _him?

**And, yes, it was weird that I got that about him so quickly.**

"More like really werid." Heath muttered, jealous of how much attention Zoey was paying that guy.

"**I think he's definitely cute," I said.**

"**Ohmigod! I just realized who he is!" Jack gasped.**

The cocky smile Stark always wore disappeared and he froze. Oh no, he thought in despair.

"**Do tell," Shaunee said.**

"**He's James Stark!" Jack said.**

Aphrodite raised an eyebrow "Obviously." she said.

Jack blushed in embrassment and Damien put a comforting hand on his shouler.**  
><strong>

"**No, shit," Erin said, rolling her eyes. "Jacky, we already know that,'**

"**No, no, no. you don't get it. He's the James Stark who is the best archer in the whole world! Don't you remember reading about him online? He kicked butt in the track and field Summer Games this past year. Guys, he competed against grown vamps, actual Sons of Erebus, and he beat them all. He's a star…"**

Stark winced, he didn't deserve that title.

"Woah," the twins muttered, wide-eyed

"**Well, shit! Slap me and call me impaired, Twin. Jacky's right!" Erin said.**

"**I knew his hotness was of major proportions." Shaunee said.**

"**Wow," I said.**

"**Twin, I'm gonna try to like his dog," Erin said.**

"**Or course we are, Twin," Shaunee said.**

**Naturally, all four of us were staring at Stark like total morons when he and Damien came back to the table.**

"**What?" he said, mouth filled with a bite of his sandwich. **

"Eew..nasty,"

**He glanced from us down to Duchess. "Did she do something while I was gone? She kinda likes to lick toes."**

"Didn't need to know that." Aphrodite said.**  
><strong>

"**Eesh, that's-," Erin began, but shut up when Shaunee kicked her under the table. **

"**No, Duchess was a perfect lady whilst you were gone," Shaunee said, giving Stark a very, very friendly grin.**

"**Good," Stark said. When everyone continued to stare at him, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. As if on cue, Duchess moved so that she could lean against his leg and gaze up at him lovingly. I watched him relax as he automatically reached a hand down and ruffled her ears.**

Stark smiled. He really loved Duchess, he didn't know what he'd do without her.

"**I remember hearing about you beating all of those vamps in archery!" Jack blurted, then he squeezed his lips shut and blushed bright pink.**

"Oops. Sorry," Jack said, blushing again.

**Stark didn't look up from his plate. He just shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I'm good at archery."**

"**You're **_**that**_** fledgling?" Damien said, just now getting it. "Good at archery? You're amazing at archery!"**

**Stark looked up. "Whatever. It's just something I've been good at ever since I've been Marked." His eyes went from Damien to me. "Speaking of famous fledglings, I see the rumor about your extra Mark is true."**

"Thanks," Zoey muttered, she hated first meetings people always saw her as the überfledgling and not the real Zoey.

"**It's true." I really hated these first meetings. It made me uncomfortable as hell when I met someone and all they could see about me was the über-fledgling and not the real Zoey. Then I got it. What I was feeling was probably a lot like what Stark was feeling.**

Stark snorted, no one could understand what he was feeling._  
><em>

**I asked the first thing I could think of to get the subject away from how 'special' he and I both were. "Do you like horses?"**

"Horses?" Everyone raised and eyebrow.

"**Horses?" The sarcastic smile was back.**

"**Yeah, well, you seem like you might be an animal lover," I said lamely, jerking my chin in the direction of his dog.**

"**Yeah, I guess I like horses. I like most animals. Except cats."**

"How can you not love cats?" Shaunee asked and she sounded truly shocked.

"Yeah, that's just unnatural," Erin added.

"**Except cats!" Jack squeaked.**

**Stark shrugged again. "I've never really liked them. They're too bitchlike for my tastes."**

**I heard both the Twins snort.**

"**Cats are independent creatures," Damien began. I heard the school teacher lecture tone in his voice and knew my mission to change the subject had been successful. "We all know of course, that they have been worshipped in many ancient cultures of the world, but did you know that they were also-?"**

The twins rolled their eyes. Typical Damien, they thought.

"**Uh, guys, sorry to interrupt," I said, standing and shifting my grip on Nala so that I wouldn't drop her on Duchess's back. "But I gotta go see what Aphrodite wants before the Council Meeting. I'll see you there, 'kay?"**

"**Yeah, okay."**

"**I guess."**

"**Whatever."**

"Y'all could be nicer, ya know" Stevie Rae told them

"Sorry Z," they muttered, ashamed of their book-selves.

**At least I got some sort of good-bye.**

**I gave Stark a friendly smile. "It was nice to meet you. If you need anything for Duchess, just let me know. There's a good Southern Ag not far from here. They carry an extra lot of cat stuff, but I'll bet they have dog stuff, too."**

"**I'll let you know," he said.**

**And then, as Damien resumed his cats-are-wonderful lecture, Stark gave me a quick wink and a nod that clearly said he appreciated my not-so-subtle subject shift. I winked back at him and was halfway to the door that led outside before I realized I was grinning like a fool instead of thinking about the fact that the last time I'd been outside, something had seemed to attack me.**

Everyone shivered when they thought about the scary thing that attacked Zoey. They always felt safe at the House of Night.

**I was standing in front of the big oak door like a Special Needs/Special Services student when a group of Sons of Erebus Warriors poured down the stairway that led to the staff dining room on the second floor.**

"I have to admit, I will totally love it when those Sons of Erebus warriors join us," Aphrodite said grin.

The twins hated to admit it, but they had to agree with the skank.

"**Priestess," several of them said when they caught sight of me, and the entire group paused to give me respectful bows with lovely crisp salutes, hands fisted over their muscular chests.**

**I returned the salute nervously.**

"**Priestess, allow me to get the door for you," said one of the older warriors.**

"**Oh, uh, thank you," I said, and then with a sudden inspiration added, "I was wondering if one of you could walk back to the dorm with me and maybe give me a list of the names of the warriors who will be assigned to guard the girls' dorm. I think it would make the guys feel more at home if we knew their names."**

"That's really nice of you," Stevie Rae said, smiling at Zoey who gratefully smiled back.

"**That's quite considerate of you, my lady," said the older warrior, who was still holding the door for me. "I would be happy to give you a list of the names."**

**I smiled and thanked him. All the way to the girls' dorm, he chatted courteously about the warriors who would be assigned to guard us while I nodded and made the appropriate noises and tried to sneak glances up into the quiet night sky.**

**Nothing flapped or chilled the air, but I couldn't get rid of the frightening feeling that someone or something was watching me.**

Everyone shuddered as Darius finished reading "Okay that's it, chapters over."

Zoey sighed "Okay I guess I'll read next."

Darius handed her the book.

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><p>Sorry evryone! It took me awhile to update, so sorry. but I'm not going to give y'all some stupid excuse as to why I haven't updated. Sorry!<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

DC: Don't own.

**"Chapter 4," **Zoey read.

**I had barely touched my door handle when it was pulled open and Aphrodite grabbed my wrist.**

"Not the most patient of people, huh?" Stark asked.

Aphrodite turned away from him.

"**Would you get your butt in here? Shit, you are as slow as a fat kid on crutched, Zoey." **

**She pulled me into the room and slammed the door firmly behind us. "I'm not slow, and you have a whole hell of a lot of explaining to do," I said. "How did you get in here? Where is Stevie Rae? When did your Mark come back? What-?" **

"If'd you'd shut your damn mouth, I'm sure I'd answer them." Aphrodite told Zoey in one of her best bitchy voices.

**My tirade of questions was cut off by a loud, insistent tapping that was coming from my window. "First of all, you're a moron. **

"True."

**It's the House of Night, not Tulsa Public Schools. No one locks their doors, so I walked right in your room. Second, Stevie Rae is over there." **

Stevie Rae's eyes lit up, she was in the story now! Maybe they'll what's up with her now.

**Aphrodite breezed past me as she hurried to the window. I just stood there staring at her while she pulled back the thick drapes and started unlatching the heavy leaded-glass windowpane. She gave me an irritated look over her shoulder. "Hello! A little help would be nice."**

**Utterly confused, I joined her at the window. It took both of us to wrench it open. I gazed out from the top floor of the old raw-stone building that looked more like a castle than like a dorm. The late December night was still cold and dreary, and it was now making a halfhearted attempt at rain. I could just see the east wall through the darkness and the shrouding trees. I shivered, but fledglings rarely feel cold, and it wasn't the weather giving me the chills. It was a glimpse of the east wall – a place of power and mayhem. **

**Beside me, Aphrodite sighed and leaned forward so she could peek out the window and down the wall. "Stop messing around and get in here. You're going to get caught, and more importantly, the humidity is going to frizz my hair."**

Aphrodite glared at Stevie Rae "Hurry up, bumpkin."

Stevie Rae glared back in an uncharactersic meaness "Make me skank."

**When Stevie Rae's head bobbed up into view, I almost peed on myself.**

"**Hi, Z!" she said cheerfully. "Check out my new ultracool climbing abilities." **

"Climbing?" Stevie Rae asked, curiously.

"**Ohmygod. Get. In. Here." Aphrodite reached through the open window, grabbed one of Stevie Rae's hands, and yanked. Like she was a balloon, Stevie Rae popped into the room. Aphrodite quickly closed the window and pulled shut the drapes.**

**I closed my flapping open mouth, but continued to stare as Stevie Rae stood up, brushing off her Roper jeans and retucking her long-sleeved shirt into them.**

"**Stevie Rae," I finally managed. "Did you just crawl up the side of the dorm?" **

"I can climb walls?" Stevie Rae asked.

"**Yep!" She grinned at me, nodding her head so that her short blond curls bounced around her head like a crazed cheerleader's. "Cool, huh? It's like I'm a part of the stones that the building's made of, and I get all weightless, and, well, here I am." She held out her hands.**

Stevie Rae grinned.

"**Like Dracula," I said, and I knew I'd spoken my thought out loud when Stevie Rae frowned and said, "What's like Dracula?"**

**I sat down heavily on the end of my bed. "In the book, Dracula, the old one by Bram Stoker," I explained, "Jonathan Harker says he see Dracula crawling down the side of the castle."**

"**Oh, yeah, I can do that. When you said 'like Dracula,' I thought you meant I looked like Dracula – all kinda creepy and pale with bad hair and those long, nasty fingernails. That's not what you meant, was it?"**

Aphrodite wanted to give a mean remark, but decided that it was way too obvious.

"**No, you look great, actually," I was definitely telling her the truth. Stevie Rae did look great, especially compared to how she'd been looking (and acting and smelling) the past month. She looked like Stevie Rae again, before my best friend's body had rejected the Change and she'd died almost exactly one month ago, and then, somehow, come back from the dead. But she'd been different – broken. Her humanity had been almost completely lost, and she wasn't the only kid it had happened to. **

All the fledglings and humans looked confused and looked at the vampyres

Sigach shook her head "I've never heard of anything like this before."

**There was a pack of nasty undead dead kids lurking around the old Prohibition tunnels beneath Tulsa's downtown abandoned depot. Stevie Rae had almost become one of them – mean, hateful, and dangerous. Her Goddess-given affinity with the element earth was all that had helped her retain any bit of herself, but it hadn't been enough. She'd been slipping away. So, with the help of Aphrodite (who had also been given an affinity for the element earth), I'd cast a circle and asked Nyx to heal Stevie Rae.**

Stevie Rae looked happy and excited "I have an affinity for earth!" she shouted happily.

Zoey and the rest of the gang smiled and gave her their congratulations.

**And the Goddess had, during that healing process, it seemed like Aphrodite had had to die to save Stevie Rae's humanity. Thankfully, that hadn't been true. Instead of dying, Aphrodite's Mark had disappeared as Stevie Rae's Mark had miraculously been colored in and expanded, showing that she had completed her Change into vampyre. Except to add to the general confusion, Stevie Rae's Mark was bright scarlet – the color of new blood.**

Stevie Rae frowned, "So I guess that means I'm a red vampyre?" she asked

Seroas nodded "Aye, lassie it would seem so."

"**Uh, hello. Earth to Zoey. Anybody home in their?" Aphrodite's smart-alecky voice cut through my mental babble. "Better check your BFF. She's kinda losing it."**

**I blinked. Even though I'd been gawking at Stevie Rae, I hadn't been **_**seeing**_** her. She was standing in the middle of the room – what used to be **_**our**_** room up until a month ago, when her death had completely and utterly changed everything forever – staring around her with big tear-filled eyes.**

Zoey threw her arms around Stevie Rae to comfort her. She never wanted her best friend to go through that, it sounded horrible.

"**Oh, honey, I'm sorry." I hurried to her and gave Stevie Rae a hug. "It must be hard for you to be back here." She felt stiff and odd in my arms, and I pulled away a little so that I could look at her.**

**The expression on her face chilled my blood. The teary-eyed shock had been replaced by anger.**

Zoey and the gang exchanged looks, Stevie Rae never looked angry, so what's up with her now?

**I wondered for an instant why her anger looked familiar – Stevie Rae rarely got pissed. And then I realized what I was recognizing. Stevie Rae looked like she had before I'd cast a circle and she'd been given back her humanity. I took a step away from her.**

"**Stevie Rae? What's wrong?"**

"**Where's my stuff?" Her voice, like her face, was just plain mean.**

Stevie Rae frowned "Sorry Z," she said, ashamed of herslef "That's no reason for me to get angry."

Zoey smiled, to show Steive Rae it was okay

"**Honey," I said gently. "The vamps take a fledgling's stuff away when she, uh, dies."**

**Stevie Rae turned narrowed eyes on me. "I'm not dead." Aphrodite moved so that she was standing beside me. "Hey, don't go all mental on us. The vamps think you're dead, remember?"**

Everyone thought the same thing: _Did Aphrodite just defend Zoey?_

"**But don't worry," I said quickly. "I made them give me back a bunch of your things. And I know where the rest of your stuff is. I can get it all back if you want it."**

**And just like that, the meanness vanished and I was looking at my best friend again. "Even my lamp made outta a cowboy boot?"**

Aphrodite made a disgusted noise.

"**Even that," I said, smiling at her. Hell, I'd be pissed, too, if someone had taken all my stuff.**

**Aphrodite said, "You'd think if someone died, at least their shitty non-fashion fashion sense would change. But no. Your bad taste is fucking immortal."**

The twins winced, they really hated to agree with Aphrodite but she had a good point.

"**Aphrodite," Stevie Rae told her firmly, "you really should be nicer."**

"**And I say **_**whatever**_** to you and your countrified Mary Poppins outlook on life," Aphrodite said.**

"**Mary Poppins was Brittish. Which means she wasn't countrified." Stevie Rae said smugly. Stevie Rae sounded so much like her old self that I gave a little happy shout and threw my arms around her again. "I'm so darn glad to see you! You're really okay now, aren't you?"**

"**Kinda different, but okay," Stevie Rae said, hugging me back.**

**I felt an amazing wash of relief that drowned out the kinda different part of what she'd said. I guess I was just so glad to see her, whole and herself again, that I had to hold that knowledge safe and special inside myself for a while, and that need didn't let me consider that there could be any leftover problems with Stevie Rae. Plus, I remembered something else. "Hang on," I said suddenly. "How did you guys get back on campus without the warriors going crazy?"**

"**Zoey, you really gotta start paying attention to the stuff that's going on around you," Aphrodite said. "I walked through the front gate. The alarm's down, which I imagine makes sense. I mean, I got the same notification call on my cell about winter break being over that I bet everyone else who way away from campus got. Neferet had to unzap this place or she'd go insane dealing with all the alarms the returning students would set off, not to mention the zillions of delicious Sons of Erebus who are descending on this place like yummy presents for us students."**

"**Don't you mean all the alarms would make Neferet go **_**more insane**_** than she already is?"**

Aphrodite shook her head "That's impossible."

"**Yes, Neferet is definitely batshit crazy," Aphrodite said, for an instant in complete agreement with Stevie Rae. **

"**Anyway, the alarm's gone, even for humans."**

"**Huh? Even for humans? How do you know that?" I asked. Aphrodite sighed, and with a weirdly slow motion-like movement, she brought the back of her hand up and wiped it across her forehead, causing the outline of the crescent moon to smear and partially rub off.**

"WHAT?" Aphrodite screamed and she looked outraged.

"I'm. A. Fucking. Human?"

The gang laughed while Darius tried to calm down a angry Aphrodite, though they were surprised when she actually calmed down.

**I gasped. "Oh, god, Aphrodite! You're…" My words sputtered out as my mouth refused to say it.**

"**Human," Aphrodite supplied for me in a flat, cold voice.**

"**How? I mean, are you sure?"**

"**I'm sure. Damn sure," she said.**

"**Uh, Aphrodite, even though you're human, you're definitely not a normal human," Stevie Rae said.**

"What the _hell _is that supposed to mean?"

"**What does that mean?" I asked.**

**Aphrodite shrugged. "Doesn't mean shit to me."**

**Stevie Rae sighed. "You know, you're lucky you turned into a human and not a wooden boy, 'cause with all the lying you're doin', your nose would be like a mile long."**

**Aphrodite shook her head in disgust. "Again with the bad G-rated movie analogy. I don't know why I couldn't have just died and gone to hell. At least I wouldn't be bombarded with Disney there."**

"**Would you just tell me what the hell's going on?" I said.**

"**Better explain it to her. She's almost cussing," Aphrodite said snidely.**

The twins snorted.

"**You're so hateful. I should have eaten you when I was dead," Stevie Rae said.**

"**You should have eaten your countrified mom when you were dead," Aphrodite said, bowing up like she thought she was black. "No wonder Zoey needs a new BFF! You're totally a Pollyanna pain in the ass."**

"I don't need a new BFF," Zoey said.

"**Zoey does **_**not**_** need a new BFF!" Stevie Rae yelled, turning on Aphrodite and taking a step toward her. For an instant, I thought I saw her blue eyes start to flash the ugly red that illuminated them when she was undead and out of control.**

**Felling like my head was going to explode, I stepped between them. "Aphrodite, stop messing with Stevie Rae!"**

"**Then you better check your friend." Aphrodite walked to the mirror that was over my sink, grabbed a Kleenex, and started to wipe what was left of the smeared crescent from her forehead. I noticed that for all her nonchalant tone, her hands were shaking.**

**I turned back to Stevie Rae, whose eyes were once again a familiar blue.**

"**Sorry, Z," she said, smiling like a guilty kid. "I guess two days with Aphrodite has gotten on my nerves."**

Shaunnee shook her head "I don't know how you lasted so long."

Erin nodded "Twin and me wouldn't have lasted two minutes."

**Aphrodite snorted and I looked over at her. "Just don't start again," I said.**

"**Fine, whatever." Our eyes met in the mirror, and I was almost sure I saw fear in Aphrodite's gaze. Then she went back to work fixing her face.**

Aphrodite snorted. "Like I'd ever be afraid of a girl with horrible fashion sense."

**Feeling utterly confused, I tried to pick up where the conversation had gotten way weird. "So, what's the deal with you saying Aphrodite isn't normal? And I don't mean her abnormally bad attitude," I hastily added.**

"**Easy-peasy," Stevie Rae said. "Aphrodite still has visions, and visions aren't normal for humans," **

Aphrodite groaned, the one thing she _hated _about being a fledgling, she got to keep as a human.

**She gave Aphrodite a **_**so there **_**look. "Go ahead. Tell Zoey."**

**Aphrodite turned from the mirror and sat on the little stool I kept close by. She ignored Stevie Rae and said, "Yeah, I still have my visions. Whoop-tee-fucking-do. The only thing I **_**didn't**_** like about being a fledgling is the only thing I get to keep now that I'm a stupid human again."**

Zoey felt sorry for Aphrodite. Those visions really sounded horrible.

**I looked more closely at Aphrodite, seeing through the **_**I'm all that**_** façade she likes to throw up. She was pale, and there were dark circles beneath the cover-up she had slathered under there. **

_Eew, I must look nasty_, Aphrodite thought.

**Yes, she definitely looked like a girl who had just gone through a bunch of crap, and some of it could be one of her draining, life-changing visions. No wonder she was being such a bitch; I was a moron not to have noticed it before then.**

"**What did you see in the vision?" I asked her. Aphrodite met my gaze with a steady one of her own and for a moment let down the steel wall of arrogance she liked to keep around her like a shield. A terrible, haunted shadow crossed her beautiful face, and her hand shook as she raised it to brush a strand of blond hair behind her ear.**

"**I saw vampyres slaughtering humans and humans killing vampyres right back. I saw a world filled with violence and hatred and darkness. And in the darkness I saw creatures that were so horrible, I couldn't tell what they were. I – I couldn't even keep looking at them. I saw the end of everything." **

Everyone, including Aphrodite, looked scared. That wasn't the world they wanted to live in.

**Aphrodite's voice was as haunted as her face.**

"**Tell her the rest of it," Stevie Rae prompted her when Aphrodite paused, and I was surprised by the sudden gentleness in her voice. "Tell her why all of that was happening."**

**When Aphrodite spoke, I felt her words as if they had been shards of glass she'd smashed into my heart.**

"**I saw all of it happening because you were dead, Zoey. Your death made it happen."**

"Oh, crap," Zoey groaned "So if I die, the world is doomed?"

Stark put an arm around Zoey "It's okay I'm sure you won't die otherwise this book wouldn't be so long and we wouldn't have gottten other books if you died."

Zoey groaned again "Not helping."

Stark gave her a little squeeze "Okay then, how I read next?" then without wating for an answer he took the book from her and without taking his off, he started to read "**Chapter five" **he read.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay people I can update again my mom's laptop is working again. But don't worry it'll break again soon- she really needs to just get a new laptop already-

I remember saying this in the first chapter but you guys proably forgot- I know I would- but if you want me to add any character to the story- not Erik- just PM me or leave a review and I might add them. Okay then enough talking, and for _me _this is a lot of talking and on with the show...or reading, I guess.

* * *

><p>DC: This is very depressing for me to say but I do not own HON:<p>

"**Chapter 5," **Stark read, with his arm still around Zoey.

'**Ah,** **hell,' I said and then my knees gave way and I had to sit down on my bed. My ears had an odd buzzing sound in them, and it was hard for me to breathe.**

'**You know it doesn't mean it'll come true for sure,' Stevie Rae said, patting me on the shoulder. 'I mean, Aphrodite saw your grandmamma, Heath, and even me dying. **

"What?" Zoey yelled then she turned to Aphrodite "You saw my Grandma, Heath and me _dying_?" she screeched.

Aphrodite winced at her loud tone "No I haven't." she said

"But the book just sai-"

Aphrodite sighed impatiently, "No idiot, trust me I _haven't. _This is a book from the future, obviously I see you and your little human boyfriend and grandma die before this book happens and after parent night at the House of Night."

"Oh," Zoey said, blushing lightly.

**Well, I mean me dying a second time. And none of those things happened. So we can stop it.' She looked up at Aphrodite, 'Right?'**

**Aphrodite fidgeted uneasily. 'Ah, hell,' I said for a second time. Then I forced myself to talk around the big lump of fear that had lodged in the middle of my throat. 'There's something different about the vision you had of me, isn't there?'**

'**It could be because I'm human,' she said slowly. 'It's the only vision I've had since turning back into a human, it doesn't seem too wrong that it would feel different than the ones I had when I was a fledgling.'**

"There's a but coming, isn't there?" Heath asked.

'**But?' I prompted. **

**She shrugged and finally met my eyes. 'But it did feel different.'**

'**Like how?'**

'**Well, It felt more confusing – more emotional – more jumbled up. And I literally didn't understand some of what I saw, I mean, I didn't recognize the horrible things that were seething around in the darkness.'**

'Seething around in the darkness?' Stevie Rae repeated. "That doesn't sound very good."

'**Seething?' I shivered. 'That doesn't sound good.'**

'**It wasn't, I was like seeing shadows inside shadow inside darkness. It was like ghosts were turning back into living things, but the things they were turning back into were too terrible for me to look at.'**

Aphrodite sighed, her 'gift' was a real pain in the ass.

'**You mean like not human or vampyre?'**

'**Yeah, that's what I mean.'**

"Ah, hell."

**Automatically I rubbed my hand, and a skittering of fear slithered through my body. 'Ah, hell.'**

"You say that a lot, don't you?" Stark said

"It's the only curse word she uses." Damian told him.

'**What?' Stevie Rae said.**

'**Tonight there was something that, well, kinda attacked me when I was walking from the stables to the cafeteria. It was some kind of cold shadow thing that came from the darkness.'**

'**That can't be good,' Stevie Rae said.**

'**You were alone?' Aphrodite asked, her voice sounding flintlike.**

'**Yes,' I said.**

'**Okay, that's the problem,' Aphrodite said.**

"Why is being alone the problem?" The twins asked in their werid twin-talk.**  
><strong>

'**Why? What else did you see in your vision?'**

'**Well, you died a couple different ways, which is not something I've ever seen before.'**

'**A – a couple of different ways?' It just kept getting worse and worse.**

'**Maybe we should wait awhile and see if Aphrodite has another vision that'll make things clearer before we talk about this,' Stevie Rae said, sitting next to me on the bed. I didn't look away from Aphrodite's eyes, and I saw there a reflection of what I already knew. 'When I ignore visions, they come true. Always,' Aphrodite said with finality.**

"It's true," Aphrodite said.

"Then why did you not tell anyone about them?" Zoey asked, with a misturstful look towards Aphrodite. Just because the book said they'd become kinda friends didn't mean they had to instantly like each other now.

'**I think some of it might already be happening,' I said. My lips felt cold and stiff, and my stomach hurt.**

'**You're not gonna die!' Stevie Rae cried, looking upset and totally like my best friend again.**

Stevie Rae hugged Zoey. "I will always be your best friend,"

**I slipped my arm through Stevie Rae's. 'Go ahead, Aphrodite. Tell me.'**

'**It was a strong vision, filled with powerful images, but it was totally confusing. Maybe because I was feeling it and seeing it from your point of view,' Aphrodite paused, swallowing hard. 'I saw you die two ways. Once you drowned. The water was cold and dark. Oh, and it smelled bad.'**

"What, you mean like one of those Oklahoma ponds?' Zoey asked.

Stark grinned.

'**Smelled bad? Like one of those nasty Oklahoma ponds?'**

Heath laughed "No need to repeat yourslef, Zo."

Zoey blushed and Stark glared at Heath until he remembered he was the one reading.

**I said, curious despite the horror of talking about my own death. Aphrodite shook her head. 'No, I'm almost one hundred percent sure it wasn't in Oklahoma. There was too much water for that. It's hard to explain how I can be so sure, but it just felt too big and deep to be something like a lake.'**

"If it was big and deep, than maybe the ocean?" Darius asked.

**Aphrodite paused again, thinking. Then her eyes widened. 'I remember another thing about the vision. There was something close by the water that looked like a **_**real**_** palace on an island all its own, which means tasteful old money, probably European, and not some tacky upper middle class version of oooh-I-have-money-let's-go-buy-an-Rv.'**

'**You're seriously a snob, Aphrodite,' Stevie Rae said.**

"Well said, Stevie Rae,"

'**Thank you,' Aphrodite said.**

'**Okay, so you saw me drown near a real palace on a real island maybe in Europe. Did you see anything else that might be in the least bit helpful?' I asked. **

'**Well, besides the fact that you felt isolated – I mean really alone in both of the Visions, I saw a guy's face. He was with you not long before you died. Someone I've never seen before. At least not till today.'**

'**What? Who?'**

'**I saw that Stark kid.'**

Stark froze and everyone looked at him.

"Wait sohe kills me?" Zoey asked, looking alarmed.

Aphrodite shrugged, "Normally I'd say 'Yes, get over it' but I got a feeling that, that's not it."

Stark shook his head to shake off the shock and started reading again.

'**He killed me?' I felt like I was going to throw up.**

Stark felt the same.

'**Who's Stark?' Stevie Rae asked, taking hold of my hand.**

Stevie Rae did the same as she did in the book. Zoey smiled gratefully, and Stevie Rae smiled back.

'**New kind who just transferred here today from the Chicago House of Night,' I said. 'He killed me?' I repeated the question to Aphrodite.**

'**I don't think so. I didn't get a good look at him, and it was dark. But it seemed like, even in the last glimpse you had of him, that you felt safe with him.' She raised her brow at me. 'Looks like you'll get over that whole Erik/Heath/Loren mess.'**

Stark gave his cocky smile, and Zoey blushed lightly.

Seroas snorted and muttered "cocky fecker." in his thick scottish accent.

'**I'm sorry 'bout all of that. Aphrodite told me what happened,' Stevie Rae said.**

**I opened my mouth to say thanks to Stevie Rae, and then I realized that she and Aphrodite didn't know the depth of the Erik/Heath/Loren mess. I took a deep breath. I'd almost rather hear about my deaths than talk about this.**

'**Loren's dead,' I blurted.**

'**What?'**

'**How?'**

**I looked up at Aphrodite. 'Two days ago. It was like Professor Nolan. Loren was beheaded and crucified and nailed to the front gate of the school. With a note that quoted some terrible Bible verse about him being detestable staked through his heart.' **

Almost evreyone looked green at hearing that.

**I spoke very fast, wanting to get the taste of this terrible words out of my mouth.**

'**Oh no!' Aphrodite turned a yucky shade of white and sat down heavily on Stevie Rae's old bed.**

'**Zoey, that's so awful,' Stevie Rae said. I could hear the tears in her voice as she put her arm around me. 'Y'all were like Romeo and Juliet.'**

'**No!' Then because the word had come out more sharply than I'd intended, I turned to Stevie Rae and smiled. 'No,' I repeated in a saner voice. 'He never loved me. Loren used me.'**

"Bastard." Heath and Stark said in unison.

'**For sex? Ah, Z, that's crappy,' Stevie Rae said.**

'**Sadly, no, even though I did utterly mess up and have sex with him. Loren was using me for Neferet. She told him to come on to me. She was his real lover.'**

The twins frowned, that was just wrong.

"Oh, Z! I'm so sorry!" Jack said with a few tears in his eyes. Damian put his arm around Jack to comfort him.

Jack smiled gratefully and Damain smiled back. Missing his friends look over at them.

**I grimaced, remembering the heart-ripping scene I'd witnessed between Loren and Neferet. They'd been laughing about me. I'd given Loren my heart and my body and, through our Imprint, a piece of my soul. And he'd laughed at me.**

'**Hang on. Go back. You said Neferet had Loren come on to you?' Aphrodite said. 'Why would she do that if they were lovers?'**

'**Neferet wanted to get me alone.' My heart froze as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.**

'**Huh? That doesn't make sense. Why would Loren acting like he was your boyfriend get you alone?' Stevie Rae asked.**

'**Simple,' Aphrodite said. 'Zoey had to sneak around to see Loren, being as he was a professor and all. My guess is she didn't tell any of the nerd herd she was playing bad little schoolgirl with Professor Blake. My guess is also that Neferet had something major to do with our boy Erik finding out Zoey was doing the dirty with someone who was definitely not him.'**

"Ugh, that even makes it more horrible," Aphrodite said.

'**Uh, I'm right here. You don't have to talk about me like I left the room.'**

**Aphrodite snorted. 'If my guesses are right, I'd say your good sense left the room.'**

'**Your guesses are right,' I admitted reluctantly. 'Neferet made sure Erik walked in on me being with Loren.'**

'Bitch,' Aphrodite muttered, a few other people nodded in agreement.

'**Damn! No wonder he acted so pissed,' Aphrodite said.**

'**What? When?' Stevie Rae said.**

**I sighed. 'Erik caught me with Loren. He freaked. Then I found out that Loren was really with Neferet and he didn't care about me at all, even though we'd imprinted.'**

'**Imprinted! Shit!' Aphrodite said.**

'**So then I freaked.' I ignored Aphrodite. It was already awful enough. I definitely didn't want to dwell on the details.**

'**I was bawling when Aphrodite, the Twins, Damien, Jack and—'**

'**Oh, shit, and Erik. That's when we found you crying under the tree,' Aphrodite interrupted.**

**I sighed again, realizing I couldn't ignore her. 'Yeah. And Erik announced the news about Loren Lore and me to everyone.'**

'**In what I would call a very mean way,' Aphrodite said.**

"Wow it _must_ have been awful, if _Aphrodite_ is saying it was mean." Stevie Rae said.

'**Dang,' Stevie Rae said. 'It must have been really**_** hateful**_** for Aphrodite to say it was mean.'**

'**It was. Hateful enough for her friends to feel like her sleeping around with Loren had been a slap in the face to them. So follow Erik's "Zoey's a slut" bomb with the "Zoey's been keeping Stevie Rae's undeadness a secret, too" bomb, and you have a gaggle of totally pissed nerds who won't want to trust Zoey again.'**

"Okay, I can get why we were so mean." Erin said.

'**Which means then Zoey is alone, just exactly as Neferet planned,' I finished for her, finding it disturbing that it was so easy to fall into talking about myself in the third person.**

'**That's the second death I saw for you,' Aphrodite said. 'You're completely alone. There's no last glimpse of a cute boy and no nerd herd. Your isolation is the overriding image I got from the second vision.'**

"So you think I'm cute?" Stark asked Aphrodite grinning.

Aphrodite just looked at him and didn't answer.

'**What kills me?'**

'**Well, that's when it gets confusing again. I get an image of Neferet as a threat to you, but the vision gets jumbled up all weird when you're actually attacked. I know this is going to sound bizarre, but at the last moment I saw something black floating around you.'**

_Creepy_, Stevie Rae thought.

'**Like a ghost or something?' I swallowed hard.**

'**No. Not really. If Neferet's hair was black, I'd say it was her hair blowing around you in a big wind, like she's standing behind you. You're alone and you're really, really scared. You try to call for help, but no one answers you and you're so terrified you freeze and you don't fight back. She, or whatever it is, reaches around and somehow, using something dark and hooked, slashes your throat. It is so sharp, it cuts through you neck and severs your head from your shoulders.' Aphrodite shuddered and then added, 'Which, in case you're wondering, bleeds. A lot.'**

Sigach frowned "That sounds like darkness to me." All the kids ignored her.

"Ohmygod! that sounds so nasty!"

"I think I'm gonna puke!"

"We _so_ didn't need to know that Aphrodite!"

'**Gross, Aphrodite! Did ya have to go into detail?' Stevie Rae said, putting her arm back around me.**

'**No, it's okay,' I said quickly. 'Aphrodite has to give all the details she can remember – like she did when she saw visions of the deaths of you and Grandma and Heath. It's the only way we can figure out how to change things. So, what else did you see about my second death?' I asked Aphrodite.**

'**Just that you call for help, but nothing happens. Everyone ignores you,' Aphrodite said.**

"That's so terrible,"

'**I was scared today when whatever it was came at me out of the night. So scared that for a second I just froze and didn't know what to do,' I said, feeling shaky just remembering.**

'**Could Neferet have had something to do with whatever happened to you earlier?' Stevie Rae asked.**

**I shrugged. 'I don't know. There was nothing for me to see but some creepy darkness.'**

'**Creepy darkness is what I saw, too. As much as I hate to say it, you've got to make sure the nerd herd isn't pissed off at you anymore, because you being friendless is not a good thing,' Aphrodite said.**

Zoey sighed "That was nice, untilyou called them nerd herd."

Aphrodite shrugged and said with an innocent smile "What it's true."

'**Easier said than done,' I said.**

'**I don't see why,' Stevie Rae said. 'Just tell them the truth about Neferet being behind Loren and you, and tell them that you couldn't say anything about me being undead when I was dead because Neferet would …' Stevie Rae's words trailed off as she realized what she was saying.**

'**Yeah, that's brilliant. Tell them that Neferet is an evil bitch who's behind making a bunch of undead dead kids and the first time any of the nerd herd members get within the distance of a thought of Neferet, all shit will break loose. Which means our evil bitch of a High Priestess will not only know what we know, but she'll probably do something majorly nasty to your little buddies.' Aphrodite paused and tapped her chin.**

Aphrodite tapped her chin in thought, "Not a bad idea." she said._  
><em>

'**Hmm, on second thought, some of that scenario doesn't sound too bad.'**

'**Hey,' Stevie Rae said. 'Damien and the Twins and Jack already know something that is going to get them in major trouble with Neferet. They know about me.'**

'**Ah, hell,' I said.**

'**Well, shit,' Aphrodite said. 'I totally forgot about the "Stevie Rae isn't dead" detail. Wonder why Neferet hasn't plucked that out of one of your friends' wee little brains and freaked about that already?'**

"Excuse us! _Puh-lease_ Damian is like a million times smarter than you!" The twins yelled.

'**She's been too busy plotting war,' I said. **

"War?"**  
><strong>

**When Aphrodite and Stevie Rae blinked in confusion at me, I realized that Loren wasn't the only news they hadn't heard. 'When Neferet was told about Loren's murder, she declared war against humans. Not an outright war, of course. She wants it to be a nasty, terrorist-style guerrilla war. God, she's so slimy. I just don't get why everyone can't see it.'**

"That sounds bad."

'**Blood and guts with the humans? Huh. That's interesting. Guess the build-up of the Sons of Erebus is supposed to be our weapon of mass destruction,' Aphrodite said. 'Yum, talk about a silver lining to a shitty situation.'**

'**How can you be so whatever about this situation?' Stevie Rae said, exploding off the bed.**

'**First of all, I really don't like humans much.' Aphrodite put up a hand to stop Stevie Rae's tirade. **

"That's hypocritical of you, Aphrodite,"

Aphrodite glared.

'**Okay, yeah, I know that I **_**am**_** a human now. **

"Ugh." Aphrodite groaned.

**Which make me say **_**ugh**_**. Second, Zoey's alive and well, so I'm not particularly worried about this scary little war.'**

'**What in the hell are you talking about, Aphrodite?' I said.**

**Aphrodite rolled her eyes. 'Would you please keep up with me? Hello – it makes perfect sense now. My vision was all about war between humans and vamps and some creepy booger- monster things. Actually, they're probably what attacked you and could very well be minions of Neferet we don't know about.' She paused, looking temporarily confused, and then shrugged and continued, 'But, whatever. Hopefully we won't have to find out what they are, because the war only happened **_**after**_** you'd been killed. Tragically and grotesquely, I might add. Anyway, I figure we keep you alive, we keep the war from happening.'**

**Stevie Rae let out a big, long breath. 'You have a point Aphrodite,' She turned to me. 'We gotta keep you alive, Zoey. Not just 'cause we love you more than white bread, but 'cause you have to save the world.'**

"I have to save the world? I'm only sixteen!" Zoey yelled, slightly panicky.

"Don't worry Z," Stevie Rae calmed her best friend down. "Me and the others we'll help you, right guys."

Damian and the others nodded in agreement. Zoey smiled.

'**Oh, great. I'm supposed to save the world?' All I could thinks was, **_**And I used to stress about geometry.**_

**Ah, hell.**

"Okay, I'm done." Stark said and the book was snatched out of his hands. Everyone looked at Erin. "What? I want to know what happens is that a crime?" She rolled her eyes and started to read "**Chapter 6." **she read.

* * *

><p>Okay people, here's the new chapter. It would have been here sooner but it's hard for me to write this for some reason...Don't know why, but it pisses me off. Oh well at least I have a new chapter, that's what matters most.<p>

Okay people now click on the little review button, come on you know you want too. No need to be shy, come on you can do it. Just leave a nice little review. Who knows maybe the next chapter will come faster!


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